In his broadest remarks on gun control yet in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, President Barack Obama called late Wednesday for tougher background checks designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

"A lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals -- that they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities," the president, who has called for reimposing the Assault Weapons Ban, said in a speech to the National Urban League.

"I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons; that we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller; that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily," he said. "These steps shouldn't be controversial. They should be common sense."

But Obama also offered a nod to the difficult politics of gun control, portraying himself as a believer in the individual right to bear arms, and acknowledging that calls to action after an incident like the one in Aurora often fade.

"When there is an extraordinarily heartbreaking tragedy like the one we saw, there's always an outcry immediately after for action. And there's talk of new reforms, and there's talk of new legislation," Obama said in his speech. "And too often, those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere."

"And I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. And we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation -— that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," he said.

The US has 3.4x more people than Aus, UK, Ger, and Can combined (which combined had 468 murders via guns). So taking their combined 468 murders and multiplying it by 3.4 you get 1,591 vs 9,484.

This doesn't take into account the additional 680 accidental deaths in the US via guns, nor the more than 1,550 injuries sustained by accidental shootings. Most disturbing to me is the 5 children on an average day that are killed or injured accidentally by a handgun.

The US has 3.4x more people than Aus, UK, Ger, and Can combined (which combined had 468 murders via guns). So taking their combined 468 murders and multiplying it by 3.4 you get 1,591 vs 9,484.

This doesn't take into account the additional 680 accidental deaths in the US via guns, nor the more than 1,550 injuries sustained by accidental shootings. Most disturbing to me is the 5 children on an average day that are killed or injured accidentally by a handgun.

Good thing there are over 300,000,000 of us. Otherwise, we might all die or something.

Yep this is one of my beefs with the whole anti gun crowd. While I believe every death is tragic there are things in our lives that destroy way more lives than guns do.

Alcohol destroys and kills more than guns do. Nobody is bitching about banning alcohol.

One big difference is that many (if not most) of the gun deaths are on purpose - homicides vs. accidents. Another is that guns - unlike cars or booze - are weapons, and therefore killing is their primary purpose.

There are lots of other differences, more than enough to make the "other things kill too" argument ridiculous. They're simply not the same thing.

One big difference is that many (if not most) of the gun deaths are on purpose - homicides vs. accidents. Another is that guns - unlike cars or booze - are weapons, and therefore killing is their primary purpose.

There are lots of other differences, more than enough to make the "other things kill too" argument ridiculous. They're simply not the same thing.